So how much oil is there? (Please note I'm no geologist - just a Science buff so form your own conclusions.
From http://www.priweb.org/ed/pgws/systems/energy_capture/capture.html" In spite of some popular misconceptions, oil doesn't come from dead dinosaurs. In fact, most scientists agree that oil comes from creatures the size of a pinhead. These one-celled creatures, known as diatoms, aren't really plants, but share one very important characteristic with them - they take light from the sun and convert it into energy. (Humans can't do this - this is why you have to eat your veggies!) Diatoms float in the top few meters of the oceans (and lakes, for that matter - which is part of the reason why not ALL oil comes from ocean deposits!) and also happen to be a major source of food for many forms of ocean swimmers. Their skeletons are chemically very similar to sand - in fact, they are made of the same material (silica). Diatoms produce a kind of oil by themselves - both to store chemical energy from photosynthesis and to increase their ability to float. But this small amount of oil still needs to become concentrated and mature before it can be taken from the ground and used as fuel. Since almost all oil comes from rocks that were formed underwater, floating ocean life (tiny, tiny creatures known as diatoms, foraminifera, and radiolaria - all just as small as a grain of sand) that settle to the bottom of the sea is what eventually turns into oil. How could something so small give us so much oil? Well, it takes many thousands of years (and millions of dead critters) to form thick deposits of organic-rich sludge at the bottom of the ocean. But how does this sludge turn into oil?
Given many thousands of years, a stack of mud and organic remains many kilometers thick may pile up on the sea floor, especially in nutrient-rich waters. Given enough time, the overlying sediments that are constantly being deposited will bury these organic remains and mud so deeply that they will eventually be turned into solid rock. It is believed that high heat and intense pressure help along various chemical reactions, transforming the soft parts of ancient organisms found in the deep-sea sludge into oil and natural gas. At this point, this ooze at the bottom of the ocean turns into source rock.
All the oil created by the source rock won't be useful unless it winds up being stored in an easily accessible container, a rock that has room to "suck it up". A reservoir rock is a place that oil migrates to and is held underground. A sandstone has plenty of room inside itself to trap oil, just like a sponge has room inside of itself to soak up spills in your kitchen. It is for this reason that sandstones are the most common reservoir rocks. Limestones and dolostones, some of which are the skeletal remains of ancient coral reefs, are other examples of reservoir rocks.
Beneath the earth's surface, oil will ooze through rocks if there is enough space between them, but this oil will not accumulate into large quantities unless something traps it in a particular place. There are a variety of geologic traps, which themselves can be broken into categories:
It is important to remember that oil is not all by itself in some sort of underground cave, but is, instead, contained within solid rock - which has enough room within it to actually soak up (or become soaked in, however you look at it) oil.
Because of the great amount of pressure thousands of feet beneath the earth's surface, oil tries to move to areas of less pressure. If it is allowed, it will move upwards until it is above ground. This is what happens at oil seeps (once common in Pennsylvania, California, Texas and Louisiana, among other places). While these seeps tell us there is oil below ground, it also tells us that much oil has already escaped, and it may mean that there isn't much left to find. Unlike a reservoir rock, which acts like a sponge, trap rocks act like walls and ceilings, and will not allow fluids to move through. The most common trap rock is shale, which, when compared to many sandstones, has very little room inside for fluids (oil, for example) to move through it.
Though trap rocks block oil from moving through them, they don't always block oil from moving around them. For a trap rock to do its job, we need some kind of geologic trap.
This is what a trap rock would look like through a magnifying lens. The yellow objects represent clay particles that are packed together. Notice the very small amount of space between the clay particles. A similar situation would be if you took individual playing cards and laid them flat on top of one another - there would be very little space in between. Because there is no space between clay particles, oil will not move through this rock - instead, it will be blocked.
From http://www.prodigyoilandgas.com/oil-and-gas-science.html
Formation(the Oil Kitchen refered by JH) and Sealing. "Source Rocks = Most geologists agree that oil and gas form from the preserved soft parts of ancient organisms that were buried, and then broken down and converted into petroleum by the combined effects of heat and time. Buried organic matter is called kerogen, and a petroleum source is any rock that contains enough kerogen to generate oil or gas. Most source rocks are shales with a total organic content (TOC) of at least 3%.
Kerogen is converted into oil when exposed to heats above 50 to 70 degrees Celsius (122 - 158 degrees Fahrenheit). Around 120 -150 degrees Celsius (248 - 302 degrees Fahrenheit) the oil is cracked to become gas. This oil window of temperature generally lies between the burial depths of 1000 to 3000 feet. As the oil and gas are formed the hydrocarbons are expelled to lower pressure areas. This expulsion of fluids and gas is called a migration and the importance of the time of migration will be covered in a little bit.
Seals = As oil migrated from high-pressure, high-heat, high-density areas it will make its way upward until it reaches the surface unless it encounters a seal. Seals are only common in the feature that they are impermeable. Permeability is a concept that is key to understanding in both regards to seals and reservoirs. Permeability is the ability for fluids or gases to flow through a substance. In the case of a seal, the migrating oil comes in contract with a layer that it cant flow through as a result it is forced to move around the seal, if it can. (So far JW-1 appeared to hace excellent sealing since no oil or gas was detected for the first 1100 metres of drilling.)
Reservoirs = If a rock has enough porosity, the ability to hold fluids, and permeability to flow oil or gas, then it is a potential reservoir. Although it may not be very much, most rocks, in particular sandstones and conglomerates contain pore space. If enough pores are present, the pores are large enough, and they are interconnected so that fluids flow through them (i.e., the rock is permeable), then the rock is a potential petroleum reservoir.
With sandstones, a porosity of 18% or more is usually needed for an economic oil reservoir, and 12% or more for a gas reservoir. Less porosity, perhaps as little as 9%, is needed if the sandstone is also fractured. Because of fracturing, limestone and dolomite reservoirs can have much lower porosities than sandstone reservoirs.
Porosity and permeability are important, but a petroleum reservoir needs to contain hydrocarbons as well. In most rocks, the pores are filled entirely with a salty solution called formation water, but in a few some oil or gas is present as well. A general rule of thumb is that 40% or more of the pore fluids must be hydrocarbons (i.e., the water saturation is less than 60%). If the water content is greater, then oil tends to stay behind and the reservoir produces only water. These types of reservoirs are said to be "wet". If the water saturation is less, then the reservoir may be "productive".
Traps = Traps are the mechanism that allow for the accumulation of migrated oil and gas in reservoirs under seals. There are several types of traps but the general designations are Structural traps, stratigraphic traps and combination traps.
Structural traps form due to changes in the earths crustal composition as result of the pressures and stresses of tectonic movement. In a simplified form, as the earths crust moves, forces cause different reactions in the land due to its differing composition and some of this works to form traps.
Some common types of structural traps are anticlines, domes and fault blocks. Stratigraphic traps are formed by layers of deposition that were formed on the surface and have been covered by other layers over the years. Some common types of stratigraphic traps are lenses, depositional or erosional pinch-outs and carbonate reefs. Combination traps are a manifestation of both structure and stratigraphy being in play. Some common examples are eroded or deformed anticlines and salt dome traps. "
So JW-1 and surprise hopefully will provide excellent evidence of formation traps. CTP will definitely be on the way to perhaps starting mega interest into the possible dozens of OTHER seals and traps in the vicinity of this first discovery. Fabulous times ahead for CTP if the oils flow in JW-1 and Surprise. Bring on the results JH come Monday please and us SH will do the rest!
CTP Price at posting:
52.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
